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Wednesday, 29 July 2015

It has been a long time... too long... but I promise that I have a very good reason for my absence! When I started this blog almost four years ago I never could have imagined the possibilities that I was opening up for myself and I am so thankful to have such a detailed record of my experiences as an educator and learner.

For those who have supported me in my blogging journey from the very beginning, those who have followed and read my posts, those who have recently visited my blog, and everyone else; thank you!

At this time I am ready for a new adventure and have decided to move my platform over to a new blog which I feel more accurately represents who I am as an educator. While this blog will still remain published, I have also imported my posts and pages to my new platform; although new posts will only appear at my new address.

Saturday, 3 January 2015

“The first step in building strong relationships in
schools is the first step for building any strong relationships: talk to each
other. The more we communicate our hopes, desires, and needs within the school
system, the more ideas and solutions we will have to discuss, the more plans we
will have to put into action, and the more support and enthusiasm we will have
for seeing those plans through.”[1]
Communication is essential for building and maintaining relationships with
school stakeholders, but how can schools easily communicate information to the
masses without it becoming a time-consuming task? The prevalence of social networking has
increased drastically over the past decade and statistics are reporting that,
within Canada, 85% of citizens use at least
one Facebook account, 46% have a Twitter account, 45% utilize a Google+
account, and 91% of all citizens are using some form of social media on a
monthly basis.[2]
Social media is changing the way that people chose to get their information and
the way they communicate and interact with the world around them.[3]
This study will look at two divergent perspectives on the school use of social
media as an effective and appropriate means of communication with stakeholders.

Literature
Review

While the topic of social media use in education is
growing in popularity, there are still relatively few professional,
peer-reviewed papers on the subject; newspaper and blog posts are far more
prevalent. As such, this study focuses first on a blog post to support the
school use of social media as an effective and appropriate means of
communication. To argue against the school use of social media as an effective
and appropriate means of communication this study then focuses on the
con-approach of a comprehensive pro-and-con article on social networking and
society.

The first piece of literature, How School Districts Use Social Media to Strengthen Community, a
blog post written in 2011 by Jill Kenney, focuses on the use of the social
media platform Twitter as a communication tool for school boards. Ms. Kenney’s
study centers on three school divisions: West Vancouver SD45, Abbotsford SD34,
and the Toronto District School Board. It is identified that each respective
school divisions’ decision to operate a Twitter account was fueled by a desire
to, “...improve communications with their target audiences using new and
relevant tactics... social media.”[4] It
is important to note that each school division also operated Facebook and
YouTube accounts, although the study focuses purely on their use of Twitter. When
social media use was compared to more traditional forms of communication such
as newsletters, webpages, and emails, Twitter was identified as an additional
tool that, “...is used to assess the communications needs and to deliver
information to their community (followers), while being as accountable and
transparent as possible.”[5]

Ms. Kenney compiled statistics from each divisions’
Twitter accounts that included their initiation date, followers, and average tweets
per month. Furthermore, Ms. Kenney also identifies areas of success and tips
for other divisions who are interested in implementing Twitter in their own
communications plans. According to Ms. Kenney, the most important factor in
each divisions’ success is that their Twitter account is managed by a
Communications Manager who is in charge of, “a deliberate, planned, and
sustained effort to establish and maintain top of mind between an organization
and its publics.”[6]
She then identifies that even though each division had a different tweet
frequency, how often they used their account each month, they all excel at
including a variety of relevant and useful content for their audiences. By
examining each divisions’ accounts, Kenney shared that their Twitter accounts
were used to share, “sporting events, school closures, committee meetings,
educational news and relevant articles, crisis communications, job
opportunities, student highlights, etc.”[7] To
conclude, Ms. Kenney identifies four tips for other school divisions who are
interested in incorporating Twitter into their communications plans: 1. Include
content that facilitates conversations, 2. Hold weekly planning meetings on
what you want communicated that week, 3. Train the appropriate personnel on
social media use, 4. Implement appropriate social media guidelines that address
topics like transparency, negative comments, timely responses, confidential
information, etc.[8]

The second piece of literature, Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?, an article
published by ProCon.org in 2014, identifies twenty-four arguments against the
use of social networking sites including: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
YouTube, etc. While the focus of this article is not primarily about the school
use of social media as an effective and appropriate means of communication,
this writer has identified five of ProCon.org’s arguments that can be used
against such use. The first argument identified states that social media
enables the spread of unreliable and false information. In fact, 49.1% of
people have heard false news through one of their social media accounts.[9]
Even with careful planning and forethought, miscommunication can result in
false information being distributed through a division’s social media account. Additionally,
with the public’s ability to respond to information, public comments could be
shared that take the original information out of context and/or present a false
perspective. Furthermore, a second argument is that social media posts cannot
be completely deleted and all information posted can have unintended
consequences. If a mistake is made by a school division such as false
information, spelling errors, unflattering information, etc, it cannot simply
be deleted as the information will stay online, in some form, indefinitely.

To
build on the argument of unintended consequences, a third argument states that social
networking sites lack privacy and expose users to intrusions. By presenting
information through public social networks, school divisions run the risk of
sharing information that could prove to be harmful to students or teachers. For
example, a division may send out a tweet wishing the Grade 4 class a good time
on their field trip to the city zoo and, while seemingly harmless, an estranged
family member could use this information to find a student in which they do not
have permission to be in contact with. The fourth argument by ProCon.org states
that social media causes people to spend less time interacting face-to-face; a
very big concern for school divisions who want to enhance participation by
their stakeholders. Statistics show that up to 34% of Americans report less
face-to-face time with the family in their homes due to the sharing that occurs
through social media platforms.[10]
If users are already showing decreased interactions with their own family
members, the use of social media may further deter stakeholders from actually
visiting the school and its events because they can simply get information
through an online network. Lastly, the article highlights that social
networking site users are vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking,
identity theft, and viruses. School divisions need to be cognizant that their
networks store sensitive information for hundreds or thousands of students and
staff and a security attack could leave the division liable.

Critical
Assessment

With 91% of all Canadian citizens having access to some
type of social media network[11]
and approximately 290 Manitoban school accounts already on Twitter and Facebook[12],
can it be argued that schools should not be utilizing social media? The purpose
of this assessment is not to debate the popularity of various social network
platforms or the use of social media to increase student learning. This
assessment, however, focuses on whether the use of social media can be used as
an effective and appropriate means of communication between schools and
stakeholders.

In regards to efficiency, when deciding on whether or not
to utilize social media, a school needs to consider the following: 1. What
social media platform(s) are going to be utilized? 2. What information will be
shared through this platform? 3. Is there a minimum use requirement to ensure
it is providing current information? 4. Is there someone who is strongly
interested or passionate enough to help fuel the launch? 5. Who is in charge of
the day-to-day management of the communication?

In regards to appropriateness, when deciding on whether
or not to utilize social media, a school needs to consider the following: 1. Is
there a need for online communication? 2. What audience will be targeted
through social media communication? 3. What social media platform(s) has/have
the highest use in the school’s specific audience? 4. Will social media
communication replace an outdated communication format or be added as an
additional option? 5. What form(s) of information can be shared through the
platform?

Implications
for Educators

There is no doubt that social media use is on the rise
and has tremendous potential to serve as a means of communication between
schools and stakeholders. The almost three-hundred divisions, schools, and
classrooms, which are already using social media for communication, highlight
just how many educators are recognizing the value of social media for connecting
with parents and community members. With various factors to consider before
implementing a social media account, schools should revisit how maintaining
communication can help enhance school success. Manitoba Education has published
a document, School Partnerships: A Guide
for Parents, Schools, and Communities, which highlights different
communication methods to encourage involvement from parents, families, and
community members:

When looking at the
suggestions provided through this document, one can make connections of to how
these could be accomplished through the use of a school or division social
media account. If a school’s stakeholders are already using social media for
personal use, providing an option that meets the audience where it is could
prove to be very beneficial for all parties.

Each piece of literature provides strong arguments in
support of their perspective and presents an overall indication that this topic
is one that needs to be addressed on a division-by-division or even
school-by-school basis. Every school and division has a unique group of
stakeholders that hold a diverse set of cultural, socio-economic, and familial
characteristics that need to be taken into account before any umbrella-mandates
are incorporated. By addressing the ten points of discussion listed earlier in the
critical analysis, a school can make an informed decision on whether the use of
social media can be used as an efficient and appropriate means of
communication.

Wednesday, 31 December 2014

“... Young people as a whole have enthusiastically integrated
a variety of networked media into their daily lives, and can text, upload
photos and blog with relative ease. However, using media effortlessly isn’t necessarily
the same thing as using it well. Young people are mistakenly considered experts
in digital technologies because they’re so highly connected, but they are still
lacking many essential digital literacy skills.”[1]
Classrooms are now filled with students that, from a generational standpoint, are
coined, digital natives; born into
the age of digital technology and familiar with computers and the internet from
an early age.[2] Does an increase in digital
experiences, however, directly translate to a strong understanding of digital
literacy and citizenship? Unfortunately, many teachers are assuming yes.

Internet access has increased exponentially over the past
decade and statistics are reporting that, within Canada, only 7% of students
have no form of internet access while at home; 6% find access through a library
or other community center and 1% only have access while attending school.[3]
With such high frequency of internet availability students are able to spend
increasing amounts of time online with Canadians logging an average of 4 hours
53 minutes of internet use each day, with up to 1 hour 51 minutes of this being
through a mobile device.[4]
With increased availability, however, comes increased challenges with 37% of
students reporting that they have had something mean or cruel done to them
online that has made them feel badly about themselves.[5]
Furthermore, 73% of students admit to using the internet to commit at least one
act of academic dishonesty at the high school level.[6]
If the prevalence of digital experiences is a vast as the statistics imply,
then why are students lacking in the areas of digital citizenship and literacy?
I argue that it is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to incorporate
digital citizenship and literacy outcomes into their curriculums at all grade
levels. To support this study I will identify four critical spheres of
understanding that I believe need to be implemented by classroom teachers at
all grade levels and subject-areas.

Many hours of professional
development are spent on strategies and programs designed to help educators incorporate
technology into curriculum outcomes; even more time is spent discussing and
installing various types of hardware and software into schools. While the
actual technology and appropriate professional development for teachers are
incredibly important as we move forward with 21st century education,
I believe that there are four critical spheres of digital understanding that
our education system is failing to address appropriately: the creation and
management of an online identity, netiquette, how to assess the quality and
authenticity of online information, and referencing and digital copyright laws.

The first of these areas, the
creation and management of an online identity, is essential for helping
students understand that their online time is not anonymous and that the
information stakeholders can find about them online can help determine future
job offers, program acceptances, scholarship offers, sports drafts, and
etcetera. The term digital footprint refers to the traces or footprints one
leaves online through active actions (social media profiles, blogs, comments)
and passive actions (cookies stored by web browsers, technology use statistics)[7].
Students should be familiar with the term digital footprint and aware of their
own unique digital footprint from an early age. As students reach an age where
they are participating in social media they need to be taught the importance of
appropriate usernames, an identity required for everything from email and
Facebook to Instagram, Kik, and Snapchat. Not only should students be taught
how to create an appropriate username that suitably represents them but they
should also be aware of how using the same username across multiple platforms
assists them in creating a stronger, more tailored online identity. It is
important to note, however, that utilizing the same username is not the same as
incorporating the same password for multiple platforms. A major component of
ones online identity has to do with online privacy and how to effectively
navigate and customize the privacy settings for various programs. Students need
to be taught how to access a program’s privacy settings, on both computer and
mobile interfaces, and how to customize them to appropriately meet the needs of
the program’s purpose. For example, a student may host a public blog to
showcase their personal writing pieces but have a private Instagram profile
where they share personal photos with close friends. By learning how to create
and manage their own online identity, students are forced to become more cognizant
of what they are posting online and can help prevent embarrassment and
disappointment as they mature.

The second sphere focuses on
netiquette, the term used to refer to appropriate etiquette for online and
digital platforms.[8] Educators, parents, and law-enforcement officials,
have all spent time discussing and/or addressing issues such as cyberbullying,
sexting, and online defamation, which all stem directly from lack of
netiquette. Virginia Shea, author of “Netiquette”, identifies as many as ten
online netiquette rules that should be adhered to by any person who is using
online platforms of any design. Of the
ten, I believe a minimum of four should be taught by educators to students beginning
in their elementary years;

1.
Remember that the person on the receiving end of an

interaction is another
human and that
all real-life regulations

and courtesies apply.

2.
There is a time and place for different interactions; what

works in a private
text to a friend
does not always work in an

email to a relative.

3.
Everything you write/post/share should be a positive

representation of yourself.

4.
Respect the privacy of others and think before you

forward/screenshot/tag/share information
that is not yours to share.[9]

These
are skills that can be incorporated at the elementary level by having students
email newsletters home to relatives, interact with their peers through an
online classroom community, create digital portfolios, or connect with an
online pen-pal from another area of the school or world. As students mature
they can transfer their netiquette skills to their personal social media
interactions, email correspondences, and online activities.

The third of these areas, assessing
the quality and authenticity of online information, is not only an area of
concern for educators, but for students as well. In fact, 35% of students
identify that they wish their school would teach them how to search for information
online and an additional 51% wish they knew how to tell if the information they
found was factual and appropriate.[10]
Of the four spheres, assessing the quality and authenticity of online
information is the most closely related to pre-existing curriculum outcomes as
educators ask students to find subject-specific information for every class
offered, yet this is still an area of concern for many students. Edutopia column
author, Julie Coiro, identifies four dimensions in which students need to focus
on when presented with online information. In order to effectively critique
information from online sources students first need to be able to assess the
relevance of a particular piece in relation to their purpose. Students should
then be comfortable cross-checking information with additional websites and
primary sources to evaluate if the information they have found is factual. Lastly,
students should learn how to determine what personal bias the author may
possess and how reliable they might be in relation to the context in which the
information is found.[11]
While 45% of students identify that they do learn this information from their
teachers, the remaining majority of 55% needs to be addressed.[12]
By introducing these skills at an early
age and solidifying them as students progress through high school, educators
are assisting students in thinking critically about information presented to
them.

The fourth and last
sphere, referencing and digital copyright laws, is essential for
ensuring students are giving credit where credit is due and preventing
copyright infringements that are commonly occurring by accident. The assumption
is that if it is found online it is free for the taking, and this misconception
is held for everything from intellectual property and images to video and music
files. Students are regularly posting material for educational and personal
uses that includes information and various forms of media that were found
online. Within the school, educators not only have to teach students how to
understand digital copyright legislations and how to reference appropriately,
but they also need to model it themselves within their classrooms. Teachers are
commonly finding information, videos, images, and activities online for their
students and, while educational copyright does have some differences, students
do not fall under this umbrella once they leave the classroom. It is imperative
that students see educators modeling the appropriate use of references in their
work as it will help solidify this skill for students. By educating students on
the legality of digital copyright and how to reference work in multiple
contexts there is a decreased chance of students inadvertently committing
plagiarism.

By addressing each of these four
spheres within the classroom context, educators help ensure that students are
representing themselves appropriately online, thinking critically about
information being presented to them, and utilizing online resources within the
context of copyright legislations. While digital natives can definitely be
considered the experts when it comes to navigating certain online platforms and
connecting via digital worlds, they require guidance and support to navigate
many of the critical components of digital citizenship and literacy. Without
the incorporation of these skills it is as if, “our kids are growing up on a
digital playground and no one is on recess duty.”[13]

Sunday, 7 December 2014

On Friday all of "T-Division's" teaching staff and EAs had the opportunity to attend a PD session with Charlie Appelstein; a youth-care specialist, author, and father. Being that we are now into December, and only have a short ten days until the Christmas break, I was apprehensive about attending a PD session when there is so much to do in so little time left. On the other hand, classroom energy is always high at this time of year so it was nice to have a day away to think and recharge! Mr. Appelstein was an incredibly entertaining presenter and shared a lot of helpful information while infusing humor and "random bursts of positivity", as he called it.

Our 5.5 hour session focused on how to understand and respond to students who are living with emotional and behavioural challenges, although Mr. Appelstein carefully pointed out that these strategies can be used with all students: from high-functioning to at-risk or special needs. Here are a few of my notes that I took away from this PD:

Quick Tips
- Effective education is all about building relationships
- Add in please and thank-you
- It is crazy how much educators demand things from students
without minimum courtesy
- Yelling meets your needs, not your students needs
- Think, "Does every students wake up thinking Mr/Mrs ______
thinks I'm awesome"
- Believing x Relevance = Motivation
- Greet students with positivity
- High Fives
- Fist Bump
- Incorporate random bursts of positivity throughout your lesson
- Help parents and you will help kids
- Humour builds relationships but not sarcasm

Activity Suggestions
- Create business cards for each of your students and hang them
on the wall
- Have students promise to mail in their official business card
when they're done school and working in their chosen field
- Have students address post cards at the start of the year and keep
them in your desk
- Send good messages home throughout the year
- Much easier to do when the post-card to ready to go!

Understanding At-Risk Students
- The brain has three sectors: logical, emotional, and survival
- Students with trauma live in the survival system
- Don't label students: every kid is a Mercedes-Benz, some just
come into the classroom on empty
- Hope is humanity's fuel
- Think of an at-risk student in your class/school, can you think of
if they have one true best friend
- At-risk student's don't have true friends
- They don't trust others
- Happy people have:
1) Meaningful Social Connections
2) Strong Social Support Networks
- We need to help at-risk students fill in the gaps in these areas
- Life isn't what you see, it's what your perceive
- When you change the way you look at the challenging kid, the
kid changes

How To Respond to Challenging Behaviours
- Get mad at choices, not children
- Reframing
- Take something negative & reframe positively
1) Understanding (why is the behaviour happening)
2) Reframe (change to a positive)
- Acting rude: you have an amazing ability to affect people!
3) Squeeze (give encouragement of where they can use that skill)
- Take about the future positively, like it has already happened
- "How are we going to celebrate next week when you have the best
week ever"
- At times you can't change the child, so change the environment
- Sort behavioural goals into three baskets
1) Basket A: non-negotiable topics
- usually related to safety
2) Basket B: compromise
3) Basket C: ignore it
- Our emotions cause use to misuse the tools we have
- Even if we know how to manage, sometimes our self-esteem
takes a hit and our emotions get in the way
- Respond instead of react
- Affect Scale
- Balance out a child's actions
- As they get loud, you get quiet
- When responding:
- Two arm lengths away
- 45 degree angle
- Eye level or below (don't stand while they sit)
- Ask open-ended questions
- Repeat back to them

Standard Behaviour Management
- "Believing is seeing"
- Our school is awesome if you do well, if you misbehave life isn't fun
- You have to earn our trust
* This is what most schools function under

Unconditional Support
- "Seeing is believing"
- We care about you no matter what
- We understand where you are at and will help you get where you need
to be
- You are strategically assisting all students to fill in where they have
developmental gaps

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Last year I used Interactive Notebooks with my Grade 8-10 Math classes with some success. My Grade 8 and 9 students used them the most but my implementation lacked direction and I don't feel my students got as much out of them as they should have. I still taught my lessons regularly and then we would do an Interactive Notebook entry at the end of that topic as a type of review activity. So, while useful, I wasn't using them to my full potential and my students could pick up on that,

This year I was much more prepared and had class sets of notebooks for all student ordered before summer break even started! While I found lots of great ideas through basic Google searches and Pinterest, I spent the majority of my time scrolling through the great resources offered by Jennifer at 4mula Fun! Here is what I recommend:

Since I found Jennifer's sharing so helpful and starting my journey, I wanted to return to the favour and share some things that I'm doing too (who knows, maybe someone will find it helpful!). All of the pictures come from my copy of our Grade 8 Math Interactive Notebook which is kept at the front of our classroom at all times for students to reference if they are absent.

What I like about Interactive Notebooks:
- All students have standardized notes (I know everyone has the
same information)
- I can easily say, "Check page ___" when students ask a quick
question
- All of their notes are in one place, easy to find, and don't get lost
in their binder
- The foldable aspect provides an activity for kinaesthetic learners
- Students have to focus more on the information when making sure
they are putting it in the right spot
- I have easy formative assessment products through the output
activities
- Students have built-in flashcards from the foldables for when
they study
- They headings and organization helps teach note-taking &
study skills

We follow the Input-Output rule where, if you open up your I.N.B, the left-hand side is the Input page (meaning the information comes from the teacher) and the right-hand side is the Output page. The input side is what essentially replaces the traditional notes that we would have normally taken. The output side is a short activity or reflection piece that is completed independently by each student. It is completed anywhere from 1-5 days after and is used as a formative assessment tool for me to gauge where the student's understanding is. Here is a copy of the anchor chart I made for our room explaining this system.

We are currently finishing up our second unit of the school year but I wanted to start with sharing our introductory pages (Front Matter) and our pages for our first unit on Rational Numbers. I have tried to format this page so that the pictures reflect the input-output style of the I.N.B. Please note that my copy of the I.N.B does not have completed output activities, I include the activity instructions since it is used by students who missed that day.

We start with our Table of Contents which states:

- Input or Output (along left-hand margin)

- Page Title

- Page Number

*I had students leave 2 blank pages after this to expand their Table of Contents as the year progressed

I provided all students with a small copy of our Course Outline as an input entry.

As an output entry I had students list:

- 5 things they learned from the course outline

- 5 resources/supports to assist them in the classroom

We used the Respect for Diversity program at the start of the year and this Multiple Intelligences Quiz was a portion of that program as an input entry.

As an output entry we revisited page 4 before our first test and reviewed different study tips based off of students' Multiple Intelligences.

This is the only example of in our I.N.B that broke our input-output routine.
At the start of the year I had student's create their own "S.M.A.R.T" Math Goals.
Now that we are in our second term, students have filled in a second goal on page 6 as well.

*I find it easier to do this definition last instead of first because students have already had lots of practice working with all of the rational number forms

Rational Number Forms (input)

*5pg book foldable: pictures continue below

- Pg 1: Integer or Decimal Example

- Pg 2: Fraction Form of their Integer/Decimal

- Pg 3: Equivalent Fraction of their Fraction Form

- Pg 4: Location on a Numberline

____________________________________________________

Whew! Are you picture-overloaded yet?

This is everything that was included for our introduction and first unit with our Interactive Notebooks. If my short explanations are not sufficient please do not hesitate to comment below and ask any and all questions you may have! I would never have been able to start if it wasn't for teachers helping me so I would be more than happy to pay it forward and help you!

*Thank you again to Jennifer from 4mula Fun for creating great products and helping me get started.